


and to me the purpose of life is to love

by outoftheashesrising



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Series, but not ALL angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-16 10:10:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8098138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outoftheashesrising/pseuds/outoftheashesrising
Summary: "I never thought I would have a friend until I met Abby".  How Abby and Holtz met, became friends, and saved each other (mainly from themselves.)





	1. Chapter 1

“You went to MIT?” Abby eyed the blonde skeptically. Someone was doing some serious resume padding. No matter how desperate, she doubts a MIT graduate would even know about, nevermind apply to the Kenneth P Higgins Institute of Science. And even if they did, they probably wouldn’t come to the interview in an army surplus jumpsuit, playing with a severely tangled slinky. 

“Yessir.” The eccentric blonde nodded her head exaggeratedly.

“And you double majored in mechanical engineering and physics?” She still wasn’t buying it. She’d seen some kooky engineers in her days, but this was starting to look more and more like a performance arts piece than a job interview.

The woman nodded again, then let out a victory “whoop!” after successfully untangling her slinky.

Abby had to hand it to the woman, whatever this bit was, she was committed to it.

“So what led you to apply to this position?” This girl was interesting to say the least, but she had experiments to conduct and wontons to eat. She didn’t have any more time to waste on obviously unsuitable candidates. Even if, at this moment, this happened to be the only candidate.

“Oh, ya.” The blonde looked surprised by the question. What else did you expect to be asked at a job interview? “I read your book.”

“You read my book?” Now Abby knew the girl was lying. She had sold four copies since putting it up on Amazon last year, all to relatives and former colleagues that no doubt felt sorry for her.

“Ya-I especially dug the part on detecting and categorizing ionization to predict spectre classification.” She touched her hands to her head, making a gesture Abby recognized as meaning “mind blown.”

For the third time in her entire life, Abby was speechless. She had read the book. And not only that, she had understood the book. 

“So you believe in the paranormal?” Abby leaned forward in her seat. She had asked this question countless times, and had never received a satisfying answer.

The blonde leaned forward, almost mimicking Abby, and then, without breaking eye contact, began humming the X Files theme song. 

“So, when can you start?”


	2. Chapter 2

It was Christmas morning. Well, technically it was February, but to Holtzmann, walking into Abby, no, Abby and her lab for the first time was akin to the pure bliss she had experienced as a young child waking up to find that Santa had given her a telescope. Yes, the lab was quite small compared to the ones she had worked in at MIT, with outdated (and non-functional, she would later learn) equipment but it was hers. And she could work on projects she cared about, not mindless assignments graded by professors with no tolerance for creativity.   
And she shared it with Abby. Abby. At this point, although her hypothesis had yet to be proven, she had no proof that Abby was not a gift from the cosmos sent especially for her. Abby was everything she could have wanted in a research partner and more. She had basically promoted Jillian after a day, changing the small placard on the door from Jillian Holtzmann, Research Assistant to Jillian Holtzman, Coordinator, Research and Development (in Sharpie, but Abby assured her that as soon as the institute approved her new budget, she would make her a new one). The promotion didn’t come with a pay raise, but she didn’t mind. It came with a friend. 

\--

It had been two weeks since Abby hired Holtzmann, and she was now certain that this was the best decision she had ever made. The second best being ordering brand new fire extinguishers, that luckily arrived two days after Holtzmann did. 

The younger woman was just as weird as she originally thought she was, if not more. She had a pair of yellow glasses that she never took off, opting to put bigger goggles on top when needed. She would hum to herself and sway when she was inventing, a captivating display that Abby often found herself drawn into. She had brought in an old radio from home last week and placed it on the small table beside Holtzmann’s workbench. The blonde woman eyed it with an open mouth and a look of absolute wonder. For a second Abby thought she saw a tear. She said nothing, merely closed her mouth, nodded firmly at Abby while making a short grunting noise she only guessed was some sort of gesture of gratitude, and returned to work. Only this time, she sang along at the top of her lungs, turning and bopping as she welded. Definitely the best decision.

 

\--

A month had passed and Abby and Holtzmann had established a foolproof routine. Holtmann would arrive early and let all the equipment warm up while Abby would pick up a small breakfast for the two to share. They would eat together at a lab bench while they checked their emails from the institute (“Do you think he’s doing it ironically or does he really not know how to spell science?”) and any other mail. Then the two scientists would go to the respective work benches where they would work on their projects until noon, when Abby would take lunch and then teach “Introduction to the Paranormal” upstairs and Holtzmann would continue on in the lab. Abby would return and work on her projects and any outstanding papers until late afternoon, when she would head home. Holtzmann always stayed late, which was fine with Abby, as she really didn’t like locking up anyway (“I can never find my damn key, I should really start clipping it to my bra strap!”)

The two had become as close as two overworked and underpaid paranormal scientists could be, bonding over X-Files reruns and terrible practical jokes. Abby had invited Holtzmann over for dinner a couple of times, and the women had stayed up for hours telling corny jokes and debating the finer points of paranormal theories. She had yet to see Holtzmann’s house, but it didn’t matter. Most affordable NYC apartments didn’t have much room for one tenant never mind a guest, and she had lucked out in finding the only place in her price range with an actual living room, so having guests over was no hassle.

\--

 

It was a Wednesday morning, about two months after they started working together, when Abby noticed something was wrong. Holtzmann had admitted to feeling “under the weather” for the past few days, but she had attributed it to working long hours in a damp basement, nothing a little fresh air couldn’t fix. Abby changed her mind the moment she walked into work. The younger woman, clad in a sweater much too warm for April, was hunched over her desk as usual, swaying back and forth. But there was no music playing, and as far as Abby could tell, she wasn’t humming to herself. It looked as if she was focusing all of her concentration on staying upright. 

Abby placed the coffees hastily on the table by the door, startling Holtzmann enough that she jumped a little, looking up at the brunette. “Fancy seeing you here!” she grinned, probably to distract from the fact that she was now gripping onto the table for support, Abby thought to herself.

“How are you feeling?” 

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” She was still gripping on to the table.

“You don’t look so good,” the brunette said as gently as she could, making her way over to her. She was frightened by just how pale Holtzmann was, at this point she could pass as one of their study subjects.

“Really, I’m fine. Probably just the flu. I’ll sit down when I’m working and I’ll try not to kiss you or spit in your coffee.” The blonde gave a lopsided grin as she brought a chair over to her workbench and sat down, gladly accepting the coffee and croissant Abby handed her.

The rest of the morning proceeded without incident, apart from Abby straining her neck from trying to discreetly check to make sure her lab partner was okay. The blonde was true to her word and spent most of the morning sitting down, and even took a short break after an hour of badgering from Abby.

It was time for Abby to go teach (she had taken her lunch in the lab to minimize the time Holtzmann would be alone), and after making Holtzmann swear that she would call her if she needed anything, she finally gone to her classroom. 

The class was as uneventful as ever, with Abby enthusiastically detailing specter classification to a bunch of glassy eyed undergrads who thought they’d be watching Ghosthunters for credit. She let the class go early, a rare treat met with an enthusiastic “hell ya!” from the back of the lecture hall, and went back downstairs to check on Holtzmann.

 

She stopped by the Cafeteria to get a bottle of water, she didn’t trust the tap water in the lab and she couldn’t remember the last time she saw Holtz drink something other than coffee. Hopefully it would help even a little bit. She opened the door to the lab, expecting to see the kooky scientist sitting across from her at her bench. It was empty. She checked the bathroom, which was also empty. She began calling out for her, but still heard no response. Shit. Shit shit shit. She looked everywhere she could think of in the lab and she still couldn’t find her. Maybe she went home. She went to check her own desk for a note explaining Holtz’s whereabouts when she saw the old storage closet, door ajar. There was no reason for the door to be open, she never used it, favouring the cleaning, more spacious closet at the front of the room. She approached the door and her heart began to race as she saw a black boot sticking out from behind it. She rushed to the closet and was faced with a sight she was not prepared for: Jillian Holtzmann unconscious on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her head like a halo.


	3. Chapter 3

_Fuck_. “Holtzmann!” _Shit. Fuck_. _I did not sign up for this._ Abby crouched down beside the engineer, hoping the younger woman would take that opportunity to jump up and scare her so that the older scientist could yell at her for almost giving her a heart attack and then they could go on with their day.

She didn’t move.

“Holtzmann?”

She was breathing, but it was slow and shaky. It sounded like she had the equivalent of an olympic swimming pool in her lungs. _Dammit._ Her hand went to her neck, hoping she’d be met with a nice steady pulse.

She wasn’t.

Holtzmann’s skin was sticky and hot, and Abby’s first instinct was to pull her hand away. After several seconds of searching, she was able to find her pulse. It was faint, it took her a minute to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. But it was fast. Too fast. _Shit_.

She finished cataloging the rest of Holtzmann’s condition and called 911, throwing in a “this is an emergency you need to hurry!” at the end. She knew it would make no difference whatsoever, but she needed to yell at someone or she’d start crying.

* * *

 

 

“Ma’am you need to wait in the waiting room.” “No.” “Ma’am, please. You will be able to see your friend as soon as the doctor is finished.” “No.”

The young nurse smiled sympathetically, and tried again to convince Abby to go sit down. He seemed like a very nice man, but right now he was the only thing that stood between him and her very sick friend, and Abby was nowhere close to giving up without a fight.

“Ma’am your friend is very ill. The team needs to help her right now, and they can’t have anyone interfering right now.” He tried to guide her to the chairs down the hallway. She wouldn’t budge.

“I need to know what’s going on.” “And you will. I know it’s very hard not knowing what’s going on, and I promise you we will let you know as soon as possible. Please sit down, and I will come get you as soon as the doctor is finished. Please.”

Abby briefly considered dodging past the nurse and running straight into the room where Holtz was, but she figured she should focus her efforts on not getting kicked out of the hospital, at least not until she was sure Holtzmann was alive and well.

* * *

 

 

Forty-five minutes. It had been forty five minutes since the ambulance had brought her and Holtzmann into the hospital. Forty five minutes since she had witnessed Jillian Holtzmann, a woman she now considered to be one of her closest friends, pale and lifeless on a hospital stretcher. Forty five minutes of not knowing.

Abby needed to do something. She had paced the entire waiting room eight times. She had organized the stack of outdated magazines on the rack beside her so they were now in alphabetical order. She was considering doing the same with the educational pamphlets on the wall across from her when it dawned on her that aside from herself and the Dean (who wasn’t much help at all), no one knew about Holtzmann being in the hospital. Holtz had never mentioned her family, but wherever they were, they needed to know what was going on.

 

“It’s blank.” “What do you mean it’s blank?” “I mean, Ms Yates, that the section that reads ‘Emergency Contact’ appears to have no writing of any sorts under it.” She grunts in frustration and hangs up the phone, saving the colourful insults that come to her mind for when she sees the Dean in person. There was no one she could contact to tell them what was going on. Not a friend, a relative, a landlord. It seemed the kooky engineer hadn’t even listed an address on her ‘new employee’ form. That would have set off red flags if she has worked at any other institution. Luckily she had found the one place that filed employee files under the growing stack of vending machine repair requests.

 

Who doesn’t give their employer their address? The more Abby thought about it, the more questions arose. Had she ever arrived at the lab before Holtzmann? Had she ever left after her? There had to be at least one time, but Abby was having a hard time thinking of one. The only time I’ve seen her leave the lab is when I invited her out. Was she living in the lab?

 _The old storage closet._ They never used it, yet that’s where Holtzmann had been found. She was sleeping in the storage closet.

 

 _Oh my god._ She had been sleeping in the storage closet for two months and Abby hadn't noticed. Was she running away from a terrible past? Was she a fugitive? Was there a recent jail break Abby didn't know about?

"You're here for Jillian Holtzmann, right?" She hadn't noticed the woman approaching her. "Yes." She stood up immediately, ready for whatever the news was. "If you'll follow me you can speak with the doctor and see your friend." 

 

* * *

 

 

"The cut to her head was superficial, but she did hit her head pretty hard so we did a CT just to be sure. It didn't show any damage, but she needs to be watched carefully for any bizarre behaviour, slurred speech, memory problems or sudden strong headaches."

Abby nodded as the doctor, a tall woman in her forties, continued on. "She has a nasty case of pneumonia, but we have her on IV fluids and antibiotics, and something to help with the fever. She'll have to continue the antibiotics for two weeks, and she needs to drink lots of water."

Abby was making a mental list of the things she'd have to keep in mind. "My biggest concern, though, is the malnourishment. We usually see pneumonia this bad only in the chronically ill and elderly- this wouldn't have hit your friend nearly as hard if she wasn't so undernourished. Her electrolytes are all over the place. How are her eating habits?"

Abby was taken aback. Her eating habits? They ate breakfast together every morning, and went out for dinner at least once every two weeks. But had she ever seen her eat something that Abby hadn't brought her? A granola bar here and there, but never anything resembling a meal. "I don't think she eats very regularly." Abby wished she could have added some sort of reason or excuse, but she had none. _What was going on with Hotzmann? And why did it take her passing out on the floor for her to realize something was up?_

"Well we're trying to replenish her electrolytes as well as we can while she's here, and I'm going to strongly encourage she take a multivitamin once she's home." With that the doctor took her clipboard and left, leaving Abby standing alone outside the curtain surrounding Holtzmann's room. She could hear the coughing coming from inside. It sounded painful. She took a deep breath and opened the curtain. She had a lot of questions. But right now, she wanted to bask in the fact that her friend was okay. Well she wasn't exactly okay, but she would be.


End file.
